Two updates in two weeks – I’ve been trying to get my finger out and clear the backlog of material that has been submitted.

First – I’ve managed to partly break the website – I was trying to make an improvement and it went wrong and I can’t work out what I’ve done to break it!

Everything works, but if you select an article etc. it opens in a blank page rather than a new one. The database is working correctly, thankfully.

I’ll get it fixed as soon as I can – apologies for the inconvenience

Solomon Jacobs

Back in 2008 Debbie Bozkurt added him to the ‘Most Wanted’ list as she couldn’t find him after 1881.

Earlier this year Anne Tong contacted me with some more information – most important of which was that he was using a totally different name!

He was using the name Alfred Jacobs. Ann has now provided a copy of the change of name Deed Poll which is attached to Solomon on the database.

Debbie had mentioned that he was a beneficiary in and uncle’s will in 1911. Hilary Soper kindly sent me a copy of the report in the Jewish Chronicle. It was Daniel Myers who died a very wealthy man.

The will is well worth a read as it gives many useful bits of information. From the home page select ‘Wills’ from ‘Jacobs Database’ and you will find a transcript.

There are still a number of unanswered questions about Solomon – see ‘Solomon Jacobs’ in the ‘Articles’, ‘People’ section from the home page.

Solomon has now been removed from the ‘Most Wanted’ list

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Daniel Myers

Thanks to the will mentioned above we can now piece together a little more about him.

I’ve managed to find the family in most of the censuses – 1871 is a very bad scan and he is indexed as Daniel Mayen.

Daniel and Sophia/e don’t appear to have had any children of their own but often had nephews and nieces staying with them.

Emma Edwards and Phyllis Jacobs are living with him from 1891 (Phyllis) and 1901 (Emma joins Phyllis) until his death.

In 1861 and 1871 they have a nephew, Judah Jacobs with them. We know that Henry Jacobs had a son Judah but he died in 1850 so is this a ‘replacement’?

Judah Jacobs

Henry and Rebecca had a son Judah who died in 1850 – we have death certificate.

His birth entry is unfortunately mist-transcribed on FreeBMD, and therefore on Ancestry, as Juda and W London

It should be Jacobs, Judah E London II 217 [Correction submitted to FreeBMD]

However, in the 1861 & 1871 censuses we have a Judah Jacobs living with Daniel & Rebecca Myers as their nephew.

My belief, uncorroborated as yet, is that Henry & Rebecca had a ‘replacement’ in 1858.

I have added this second Judah with an appropriate note. If anyone has any other information please could you let me know.

I can’t find him in later censuses.

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I am now attempting to catch up on tasks I’ve had hanging around for a while.

Earlier in the year June and Tom Keating went to Hobart to search the convict records there. June had the feeling that as Samuel Jacobs married a convict’s daughter, he may well have been a convict himself.

This is based on the logic that the family of a criminal would be coming into regular contact with other criminals. Remember that they weren’t all locked up in jails at night.

June had discovered a Samuel Jacobs about the right age who was transported to Tasmania at the right time and she wanted to explore the records in person.

Needless to say they came back with a lot of information .

There is still a lot of work to be done on this and June is working on it.

However, Tom put together an article on the life of Samuel Jacobs, with the odd contribution from myself. This can be found under ‘Articles’, ‘People’, ‘Samuel Jacobs’ from the home page.

I have decided to add details to Samuel Jacobs on the assumption that he is the convict but have added a warning about it not being 100% as yet. If anyone has any other information then could you please get in touch.

My apologies to June and Tom for taking so long for this to reach the top of the pile L

Henry Gomm

Fanny Matilda Gomm married Samuel Jacobs in Hobart in 1849. Her father, Henry Gomm was a convicted criminal who was transported in 1836.

After his conviction Henry was held onboard the prison hulk ‘Ganymede’ and was said to be of bad character.

Following Henry’s transportation in 1836 his wife, Hannah, follows in 1838 along with three children.

It should be remembered that in those days not all prisoners lived in prisons, many lived in the community. This would account for the fact that he and his wife Hannah had some more children whilst he was in ‘jail’ . There are also 2 census entries (1842 & 1843) that list a Henry Gomm living in a house in Hobart but which give little information.

Whilst looking for Henry on Ancestry

Samuel Jacobs

June had the thought that because Samuel married Fanny Gomm who was the daughter of a convict that perhaps Samuel had a criminal record.

The staff at the Hobart Archives were very helpful and June located a Samuel Jacobs whose information fit with ‘our’ Samuel.

Whilst we don’t have concrete proof that the convict is ours the staff at the Hobart Archives agree that it 99.9% likely that they are the same person. They considered that his behaviour once he arrived in Hokitika NZ was typical of a released prisoner. He was forever in trouble over petty infringements with the law. Unregistered dogs, roaming horses and sly grogging. A disrespect of bureaucracy.

Samuel was tried and convicted at the Middlesex Session Peace in 1833 and sentenced to transportation for 7 years. I visited the London Metropolitan Archives which hold the records for these sessions but unfortunately they are not complete and I couldn’t find an entry for Samuel.

One of our biggest problems with Samuel is his inconsistency with his age – it is all over the place.

If anyone can throw any more light on Samuel then please get in touch.